The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-07-31
Literary
TEXAR'S REVENGE
BY JULES VERNE.


4
it to-day. You assemble them in the park
at o'clock this afternoon, and tell them have
communication to make to them"
Then the overseer retired with many gesture
OF establishment.
BLACKS who not slaves! Blacks who will
work for themselves! Blacks who will have to
look after their own wante! It is a regular cap
size of the social order It is the upsetting of all
human law! It is against nature-yes, against
naturel"
During the morning Burbank. Stannard and
Carol went out in the break to visit the north
ern boundary of the plantation. The slaves were
busy at their usual work in the fields of rice and
| eeshrubs and sugar-canes. There the
same hustle going on in the workshops and saw
mills The secret had been we'll kept No COM
| munication had been established between Jack
sonville and Candles Bay. These who
| directly interested knew nothing Of James Bur-
banks project.
In driving along the boundary of the estate
| Burbank and his friends wished to assure them
| selves that the neighborhood of the plantation
presented nothing suspicious. After yesterdays
! declaration it was to be feared that some Of the
| Jacksonville mob or the people of the country
| round might find their way to Candles Bay.
| But nothing of the sort to be seen. No
| providers were noticed the bank of the
river or along the st. Johns. The Shannon,
| which passed at 10 o'clock did not stop at the
pier but continued her voyage to Picolata.
Neither up stream down stream was there
anything to alarm tie inhabitants Of Castle
House.
little before noon Burbank, Staunard and
Carol repassed the bridge into the Enclosure
and entered the house. The family were wait
ing for lunch. They seemed less anxious and
talked more at their 1t seemed as though
the of events had paused for a while.
Probably the energy of the Jacksonville mags-
frates had put check on the violent spirits of
Texar's party. If that state of things continued
for a day so Florida would be occupied by
the federal army, and anti-slavery men, wheth-
Northerners Southerners, would be in
safety.
James Burbank could thus proceed to the
ceremony of emancipation-the first action of
the kind that had ever Voluntarily taken place
in a slave State
OF all the blacks on the plantation, the
who would be most gratified evidently a
fellow of about twenty, whose name was Pyg
malion. or Pyg, as he was more commonly
called. He looked after ths servants quarters
at Castle House, and so lived there He did not
work in the fields, nor in the factories, nor in
the shops. Truth to tell Pygmalion
ridiculous, vain, idle fellow. whose faults his
ter very kindly overlooked. Since the slave
question had come up. he had been heard to de- |
claim in sounding phrases about human liberty. |
On all occasions he INDUCED in prerentious
speeches to his fellow-negroes, and was gener-
ally laughed down. AS they said, he tried to
ride the great horse when even a donkey would |
have thrown him. Many discussions had he had |
with Mr.. Perry, when the overseer in |
humor to listen to him. and we imagine the |
wv,k ,u-Ifn Lh
act of enfranchisement that gave him the dig
nifty of manhood
The negroesbad been told to assemble in the |
private park in front Of Castle House, as an i'm
portant communication was to be made to them
by the planter
A little before o'clock-the time fixed for the
meeting-the slaves began to assemble. They |
had not gone to work after the midday NEAL
and had tidied themselves mp and changed their
working clothes usual with them when
admitted within the palisades. At the barra
coons there had been great excitement, and the
overseer had walked from one to the other growl-
ing to himself:
when 1 think that at this moment we can
buy and sell these fellows if they were mer-
chandise. and in another hour we shall be able
to do nothing of the sort. Yes! 1 will say to
the last! Mr.. Burbank. you can do what you
like and say what you like. and SO can President
Lincoln. and all the federals of the North,
and all the liberals of the world"
And here Pygmaon, who knew nothing as
yet. found himself face to face with the over
seer.
why are we to be called together. please,
Mr.. Perry" asked he. "Do you knows"
Eyes, idiot! 1t is to"
The overeeer stopped, not wishing to betray
the secret An idea occurred to him.
'Come here, Pyg," he said.
Pygmalion approached.
"Have I ever pulled your ear for you, my
boyl"
'Yes. Mr. Perry; for contrary all Justice
human or divine-you have a right to do So"
''Wel it is my right am going to use it
once more"
And without needing the cries of Pyg, but
without doing him any serious hurt he pulled
the ears which were already of tolerable length.
And much did it relieve the overseer to take ad-
vantage Of his right for the last time
At o'clock James Burbank and his people
appeared on the terrace at Castle House. Before
them stood seven hundred slaves, men, women,
and children. among them a score Of old negroes
who, when they were past work, found COM
Portable retreat for old age in the Candies Bay
barracoons.
Deep silence fell on all. At gesture from
Mr. Burbank the overseer made the negroes form
up closer, that they could distinctly hear
what was said to them.
MY friends" said James Burbank, ''you
know that a civil war has been raging for a long
time in the United States. The real cause of
that war is the question of slavery. The South
is only fighting for slavery. in which it thinks its
interests bound mp and which it wishes to
maintain The North, in the name of humani-
10 md 70 it in 1
has helped the defenders of righteous cause, |
and victory has already more than once de-
cared for those who fighting for the free
dom of a race. For some time, as everybody !
knows, 1 have shared in the opinions of the
North without being able do put them in prac